X-factor [05]: Suite no. 5 spoilers and review

[Sutekh]

So I missed this at the comic shop wednesday and just got it.

Random belated thoughts;

There has to be a Cerebro updater-thingie in Mojoworld constantly feeding to Krakoa-Cerebro, because Sofia clearly remembers her time in Mojoworld, which she should not. (And it even stores the memories of EX-mutants!) Did Sinister sneak it there as part of his backdoor deal to get MojoTV for Krakoa? (Piggybacking a broadcast of Cerebro mutant-brainscan-recording along with the ExtremeTVoptions?)

Hellion being there for Sofia's return and calling her beautiful (and making an off-color joke about her looking good in goo) is 100% perfect. Him having no interaction with Santo is odd, since they were best of friends. (But also in-character for Julian, who tends to get focused on one person/drama at at time and let stuff with others, like Jay, or Kevin, or Brian, spiral out of control...)

Elixir seems to have grown up a lot. He was such a jerk during Academy X, and now he's super-mature, it seems.

Proteus' characterization is interesting. He was kind of psychotic bad-guy, in the day, and this version is very much not. He's also a bit inconsistent. On the page where he talks about people from Amenth coming back weird, he's got a thick Scottish accent, like Moira or Sean. On the page where he has a long foreign-language-quoting discussion about flyers wanting to fly, he loses the accent and sounds very educated, for a kid who grew up in a cell, because his mom didn't want him eating people... (Maybe she tossed a lot of books in there with him, which, with no hands, he couldn't read? IDK. Maybe she read to him?)

Aw, so many old friends. Indra! (wow, the youngest of the Academy X survivors, all growed up, it seems, taller than Polaris and not trapped in the 'perpetually resetting to preteen' state that kids like Franklin and Victor have been stuck in). Loa! (With randomly appearing and disappearing tattoos and unusual skin coloring. Oops. Rubbermaid! (just kidding, never really cared about her...)

Big fancy lightshow at the end. Santo has a reaction. Trevor is woken up by it. Kyle is verklempt because his hubby woke up to go make pretty colors with his twin. David is a workaholic and doesn't even notice. And Rachel, the character we first met in a tunnel, hiding from Sentinels, about to lose the love of her life, is tucked away safe underground, where no joy or wonder will ever find her. True to character, but sad...

[Frobisher]

Loving the Scots accent vs educated dichotomy.

[Sutekh]

Loving the Scots accent vs educated dichotomy.

On behalf of my various educated Scots ancestors, I have no idea what you meant by that and find the thought of jumping to conclusions about it to sound exhausting.

Although if I did offend anyone in the demographic of 'insane predators raised in a cell because their mom wanted to stop them from eating people all the time' by suggesting that they might not have benefitted from the best post-secondary education. Sorry, not sorry.

[Solitaryhawk]

Anyway, I hope Sofia returns and Rictor guest-stars to take down Mojo. <3

Seconded. Fans are overdue for a Rictor/'Star reunion. I'm not saying that they need to be made a couple again, but I would like to see some measure of closure why they parted after the Shatterstar mini.

[Big Joe]

Proteus' characterization is interesting. He was kind of psychotic bad-guy, in the day, and this version is very much not. He's also a bit inconsistent. On the page where he talks about people from Amenth coming back weird, he's got a thick Scottish accent, like Moira or Sean. On the page where he has a long foreign-language-quoting discussion about flyers wanting to fly, he loses the accent and sounds very educated, for a kid who grew up in a cell, because his mom didn't want him eating people... (Maybe she tossed a lot of books in there with him, which, with no hands, he couldn't read? IDK. Maybe she read to him?)
..

Well that comment clearly shows how badly Banshee has been written for decades. Possibly the only, kind of, high profile Irish man in comics and his Irish accent can be mistaken for a thick Scottish accent.

[Husk]

Well that comment clearly shows how badly Banshee has been written for decades. Possibly the only, kind of, high profile Irish man in comics and his Irish accent can be mistaken for a thick Scottish accent.

Even more astounding when you consider the Banshee is an Irish spirit. Almost as odd as Sean actually choosing a code name from an exclusively female faerie since Bean Sídhe is just “faerie woman” in Gaelic.

[salarta]

Well it's not ok for Lorna, writers have to stop forcing relationships. I wonder what characters would be considered brother/sister for Lorna?

I'd think of Iceman as like a brother for Lorna, now that we know his sexuality.

I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone else that, if we go by all of Marvel's comics, could be considered like a brother/sister for Lorna. The past several decades have been spent by Marvel completely ignoring relationship dynamics for her that aren't "dates Havok."

There's more to go with if we ignore time and look just at precedent - what's happened at some point. In that sense, there's Jean. I'm of the personal preference for Lorna and Jean as a couple or more, but if not that, then the next closest would be a sister like relationship. They were the first two women on the team, and the only two for a time, so you'd expect them to be closer. I see Wolverine as a peer, but not in a "like a brother" sense. I don't think any of the Wolverine family would fit a "like a brother/sister" dynamic with Lorna.

WTF is dat? Is Lorna auditioning for the female lead in A Nightmare Before Christmas? Someone needs to insist Baldeon goes back to art school to learn how to draw eyes...(and feet)

To be fair, I've seen people point out how bizarre the eyes on Frozen characters really are by altering Frozen images to make the women look more like they would if they were meant to be realistic. But that's all consistent. Not sure how this looks in context of what's usual and expected. If Baldeon's working on other projects too, maybe those projects are bleeding into his work here.

[Kingdom X]

I'd think of Iceman as like a brother for Lorna, now that we know his sexuality.

I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone else that, if we go by all of Marvel's comics, could be considered like a brother/sister for Lorna. The past several decades have been spent by Marvel completely ignoring relationship dynamics for her that aren't "dates Havok."

There's more to go with if we ignore time and look just at precedent - what's happened at some point. In that sense, there's Jean. I'm of the personal preference for Lorna and Jean as a couple or more, but if not that, then the next closest would be a sister like relationship. They were the first two women on the team, and the only two for a time, so you'd expect them to be closer. I see Wolverine as a peer, but not in a "like a brother" sense. I don't think any of the Wolverine family would fit a "like a brother/sister" dynamic with Lorna.



To be fair, I've seen people point out how bizarre the eyes on Frozen characters really are by altering Frozen images to make the women look more like they would if they were meant to be realistic. But that's all consistent. Not sure how this looks in context of what's usual and expected. If Baldeon's working on other projects too, maybe those projects are bleeding into his work here.

I kinda wish that Lorna was the ex that Bobby spent time with in his solo instead of Kitty tbh

[baxer]

I'd think of Iceman as like a brother for Lorna, now that we know his sexuality.

I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone else that, if we go by all of Marvel's comics, could be considered like a brother/sister for Lorna. The past several decades have been spent by Marvel completely ignoring relationship dynamics for her that aren't "dates Havok."

There's more to go with if we ignore time and look just at precedent - what's happened at some point. In that sense, there's Jean. I'm of the personal preference for Lorna and Jean as a couple or more, but if not that, then the next closest would be a sister like relationship. They were the first two women on the team, and the only two for a time, so you'd expect them to be closer. I see Wolverine as a peer, but not in a "like a brother" sense. I don't think any of the Wolverine family would fit a "like a brother/sister" dynamic with Lorna.
.

Now Im thinking of Daken sayin that just as a get out of jail card, to make sure that he doesnt want lorna as romantic partner. Now if we are suppossed to get it as real thing, it is really messed because they were never close to be like siblings.

Lorna/jean are like sisters or they are like a couple, the two are very opposing situations

[salarta]

I kinda wish that Lorna was the ex that Bobby spent time with in his solo instead of Kitty tbh

I was annoyed by how the solo reduced the entirety of her potential contribution to a text message ambiguous enough that someone could read it as phobic instead of supportive if they wanted to. I've actually seen some people on Twitter use Bobby's past relationship with Lorna as his first "love interest" to argue against his sexuality. Actually doing an issue with her could have done a lot to undermine such arguments by showing her support. I certainly wouldn't have expected Lorna to have a major recurring presence, it's Iceman's book not hers, but I think she should've gotten to do more in it.

Lorna/jean are like sisters or they are like a couple, the two are very opposing situations

Thing is, you can make a case for going either direction today. There's been enough loss of activity between them that restarting has a lot of ways it could go. But as you point out, once one path is started, it'd be necessary to stick by it.

[Fokken]

Going into Dawn of X, I was under to many false assumptions. I entered this beautiful new era believing my devotion/adoration/enthusiasm would gravitate toward New Mutants, X-Men, and Marauders.
And here I am, several months and several issues in, and I'm absolutely enamored with X-Factor, Hellions, and Marauders (okay so one of my assumptions was correct) This Krakoa era is really wild, and I cannot stress how thrilling it is to fall in love with characters that didn't necessarily ping my radar previously, thanks to how their being handled by writers like Leah Williams.

I'm sure I've made mention previously in other threads but it really an astounding thing when a certain writer comes along and causes your perception to shift for characters you'd otherwise been ambivalent about. Peter David did it with Shatterstar for me. Rick Remender did with Deadpool & Fantomex. Zeb Wells did it with Dani Moonstar, Doug Ramsey, and really the entire cast of Hellions (haha) and Leah is doing it with Lorna, Rachel, and Daken. So happy this is all happening.

[Triniking1234]

I was annoyed by how the solo reduced the entirety of her potential contribution to a text message ambiguous enough that someone could read it as phobic instead of supportive if they wanted to. I've actually seen some people on Twitter use Bobby's past relationship with Lorna as his first "love interest" to argue against his sexuality. Actually doing an issue with her could have done a lot to undermine such arguments by showing her support. I certainly wouldn't have expected Lorna to have a major recurring presence, it's Iceman's book not hers, but I think she should've gotten to do more in it.

Lorna's reaction was pretty aggressive compared to Peter, Jean-Paul and Johnny.

Unfortunately, Kitty is just too popular compared to Lorna or maybe it was editorial-mandate since it was post-IvX era.

Her being in the book would've been a good analysis considering Bobby tried to get Alex killed to get her.

[Fokken]

I've actually seen some people on Twitter use Bobby's past relationship with Lorna as his first "love interest" to argue against his sexuality.

I've seen this as well, but its my understanding that it all comes from a place of playful ribbing. The wording I've seen, specifically is "Every gay man on earth wants to date Polaris. Wanting to date Polaris makes you gay!"
Now, the person in question suggesting this doesn't actually mean that dating Polaris is a literal catalyst for a homosexual awakening. Polaris has, similarly to Emma Frost and Storm and Dazzler, a massive gay-fan-following, so for gay men (in this case Bobby) to be drawn to Polaris is a comical identifier confirming that Bobby was gay all along and his attraction to Polaris was much more about admiring her statue-esque beauty and fabulousness and her commanding presence.

Its all meant in jest.

[salarta]

Lorna's reaction was pretty aggressive compared to Peter, Jean-Paul and Johnny.

Unfortunately, Kitty is just too popular compared to Lorna or maybe it was editorial-mandate since it was post-IvX era.

Her being in the book would've been a good analysis considering Bobby tried to get Alex killed to get her.

Wouldn't be surprised if it was editorial mandate. Marvel's got a track record for it.

I've seen this as well, but its my understanding that it all comes from a place of playful ribbing. The wording I've seen, specifically is "Every gay man on earth wants to date Polaris. Wanting to date Polaris makes you gay!"
Now, the person in question suggesting this doesn't actually mean that dating Polaris is a literal catalyst for a homosexual awakening. Polaris has, similarly to Emma Frost and Storm and Dazzler, a massive gay-fan-following, so for gay men (in this case Bobby) to be drawn to Polaris is a comical identifier confirming that Bobby was gay all along and his attraction to Polaris was much more about admiring her statue-esque beauty and fabulousness and her commanding presence.

Its all meant in jest.

I can't remember seeing tweets of people saying them as playful ribbing. The ones I remember involve insisting Iceman can't be gay. One person I responded to made a big thing about how Iceman has "60 years continuity as straight," claiming Iceman "got Lorna to cheat on Havok" and saying Iceman being gay while doing that would make him "evil" (because... somehow doing supposedly bad things is worse when you're gay? I guess?). Some bad actors see her as something they can use to push anti-diversity, and Marvel not using Lorna in places that can meaningfully support diversity based on her history really makes things easier for those bad actors.

[Husk]

There’s also an issue in that argument that Lorna’s decision to cheat, good or bad, was made on her behalf by Bobby. This removes her autonomy. Even if he manipulated the situation or the truth, Lorna chose what her reaction would be. Choosing to cheat wouldn’t make her any less of a good person, it makes her human since humans falter all the time. They rarely ever appear in any meaningful way together anyway, which would indicate they’d moved on from one another even if Bobby hadn’t come out as gay.